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Monday, May 23, 2011

Rwanda to set up Body to Register Political Parties

Rwandan opposition parties have welcomed the government’s decision to establish an autonomous body that will among other things register all political parties taking over from the Ministry of Local government.

The government says Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) will promote good governance, carry out regular assessments and surveys on the performance of different public institutions on good governance and advise ways to improve areas where weaknesses are identified.

In an exclusive interview with Contact FM, Frank Habineza, leader of the yet-to-be registered Democratic Green party welcomed this initiative saying it will help open up political space which has been lacking in Rwanda.

The two main opposition parties, the Democratic Green party and United Democratic Forces (FDU/INKINGI) are yet to be registered over what they call government’s bureaucracy to prevent them
from being allowed to operate freely.

James Musoni, the Minister of Local government which has been in charge of registering and regulating political party activity says these allegations are unfounded. Currently there are ten legally registered political parties in the country, all of whom are organized under the forum of political parties.